Your top 5 favorite books of all time

Cafe Society
121

In a slightly different twist, the 5 books that influenced my life and love of reading

  1. The Teddy Bear Habit - perhaps the first great novel I read as a kid
  2. Follow my Leader - I loved this book as a child, and recently read it with my son.
  3. Franny & Zooey, Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters, Seymour and Introduction, Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger - actually 5 short stories published in 3 separate books, but they make one collective reading - I can read and re-read these over and over and still learn something new.
  4. Lord of the Rings - still among my great loves in life
  5. Of Human Bondage - W. Sommerset Maughm - this book changed my live and career path.
122

In no particular order:

  1. The Prize – Irving Wallace
  2. Roots – Alex Haley
  3. Papillon – Henri Charriere
  4. The Drifters – James A. Michner
  5. God and Religion – Bertrand Russell
123

:wink: I can’t possibly choose… so this is actually

Five (?) Books I Buy Used Copies Of And Give to Others:

Silverlock, John Myers Myers (and The Moon’s FireEating Daughter)
The Stress Of Her Regard, Tim Powers (also The Drawing of the Dark)
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein (Glory Road and many “juveniles” too!)
To Reign In Hell, Steven Brust (also Freedom and Necessity)
Masks Of The Illuminati, Robert Anton Wilson
and every Terry Pratchett book…
wait… that’s at least 50 books :smack:
(adds another)

124

If someone has way more time on their hands than I do, I would be curious to know what books were mentioned the most, and what authors have the most different books on the lists.

125

  1. The Bridge of Birds - Bary Hughart
    “A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was”
    When I finish this book, I always feel grateful that the author wrote it.

  2. The Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
    Ok, this is cheating a little. This is actually 3 books. The first Sci-Fi/Fantasy books I read.

  3. Snow Crash - Neal Stephanson

  4. Friday - Robery Heinlein

  5. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
    It puts a smile on my face.

126
  1. Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, Greil Marcus
  2. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
  3. Pop. 1280, Jim Thompson
  4. We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, Philip Gourevitch
  5. Divided Kingdom, Rupert Thomson
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It’s like the Odyssey only with an alien culture. It’s the search for home, the fight for survival. It’s adventure.

128

Based solely on how many times I’ve read them.

  1. *Fifth Business *- Robertson Davies - Who did kill Boy Stanton?
  2. Welcome to the Monkey House - Vonnegut - One great short story after another.
  3. *Catalina’s Riddle *- Steven Saylor - Good history, excellent feel for the times, and a solid mystery even after I knew who done it.
  4. Candide - Voltaire - Very readable still and, perhaps the best of all possible books?
  5. *Cugel’s Saga * - Jack Vance - “Once again Cugel left town under a cloud.”

I could go on but listing more than five would be cheating. :wink:

129

Lots of good stuff mentioned so far. Much as I like Heinlein (Starship Troopers, Time for the Stars, The Puppet Masters, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Have Spacesuit Will Travel and The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, among others), he doesn’t break into my Top Five.

130
  1. Shogun
  2. Dune (the first book only)
  3. Lord of the Rings (all three, but doesn’t really get going until the Council of Elrond IMHO)
  4. Nine Princes of Amber (and the next four books of the original Amber series)
  5. After those four it’s a 50-way tie.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude–G.G. Marquez
Cider-House Rules–J. Irving
The Master and Margarita–M. Bulgakov
To Kill a Mockingbird–H. Lee
Fierce Invalids Home From Warm Climes–T. Robbins

132

The Razor’s Edge -Somerset Maugham
Witness -Whitaker Chambers
Animal Farm- George Orwell
Angela’s Ashes-Frank McCourt
Disciple- Juan Carlos Ortiz

133

I’m going to cheat and add another author: John O’Hara, who is much, much neglected and due for rehabilitation. It’s hard to beat O’Hara as a short story writer. His last novels sucked horribly, but Appointment In Samarra remains great and will forever.

Sorry. I can never resist a book thread and am fascinated that there are so many apparently GREAT books I’ve never read!!! Some are on my “must read” list now, though.

134

I’ve read all his fiction, but haven’t been able to make myself try the basketball book. Same with Stephen King’s fiction and his baseball book…

135

If you are talking about the book King co-authored with another writer about the Red Sox winning their first World Series in a million years, don’t bother. I have rarely been so disappointed in a book; it was a complete waste of time.

136

Really, you won’t regret it. It reads like fiction (and I mean that as a compliment, not a slam against Conroy’s veracity). Highly recommended.

137

woodstockbirdybird:

Great book.

138

Didn’t it come out a few years ago that Conroy’s “non-fiction” was more in the vein of James Frey? I seem to remember a review of My Losing Season that suggested many details didn’t jibe with reality.

139

I don’t mind if Conroy makes stuff up. Elendil’s Heir, I’m off to the library site with great trepidation to pick up My Losing Season. Worst comes to worst, at least it’s free. :slight_smile:

140

The Little Princess (a child’s book, but no less a favorite for that, seeing as how I’ve re-read it at least a dozen times over 40 years.)

A Prayer for Owen Meany

To Kill a Mockingbird

Lonesome Dove

Stranger in a Strange Land
I guess I like to cry when I read, since all five of these books made me cry. So if that’s the ticket, then I should give honorable mention to The Power of One, Sophie’s Choice and Cold Mountain (which is a very difficult book to get into, but once you do the writing is gorgeous. Damn shame they went and made a movie.)

Shayna: Girlfriend, you and I are on exactly the same page about Owen. Owen!!! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…